Chase Elliott’s 2025 campaign has had its bright spots, but it hasn’t been the smooth ride fans are used to seeing from the No. 9. Yes, his last-lap win in Atlanta reminded everyone of his big-race flair, and his steady string of top-5s and top-10s has kept him comfortably in the playoff picture. But behind the results lies a troubling trend: Elliott just hasn’t been starting up front.

His qualifying average sits at 16.9 (nearly six spots worse than last year), and it’s cost him valuable stage points week after week. At tracks like New Hampshire and Dover, where track position is everything, Elliott has spent the early laps digging out of holes rather than dictating the race. One win aside, if he and Hendrick Motorsports can’t fix their Saturday struggles, their playoff hopes could be in serious jeopardy.

Chase Elliott’s qualifying struggles

Chase Elliott’s rebound to a fifth-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway was impressive, considering he started deep in the field at 27th. His strong racecraft salvaged valuable points for Hendrick Motorsports. But insiders like Jordan Bianchi emphasized the concerning trend of poor qualifying.

“They ranked 17th in average starting position this year,” Bianchi noted in a conversation with Jeff Gluck, underscoring an ongoing issue for Elliott and the team. Chase Elliott has largely qualified in the middle and lower pack this year. This includes three 30th-place qualifications and one 39th-place qualification at Chicago. What’s more concerning is that Chase Elliott has just four top-5 qualifications in point-paying races this season, including a lone pole at Dover. The rest is hardly noteworthy.

Qualifying performance is crucial in today’s hyper-competitive NASCAR landscape, especially during the playoff season and on tracks where passing is difficult and tenths of a second separate contenders. Bianchi explained, “Track position is important at a time when we talk about how close the competition is, and how everybody’s running just fractions of a second apart.” Starting deep often forces Elliott’s team to play catch-up early in races rather than control the race pace. This is a disadvantage at critical playoff moments.

Jeff Gluck added, “You certainly got to… make an improvement there because… starting runs in traffic… can really dictate what your car drives like.” Elliott’s average starting spot of 16.9 in 2025 is a significant drop from 11.6 during the previous season, pointing to qualifying struggles intensifying this year.

As Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports prepare for Kansas and the Charlotte Roval, the question remains: Can they fix qualifying woes fast enough to avoid a playoff derailment, or will these missed opportunities ultimately end their championship hopes?

Elliott admits he needs to improve

Chase Elliott left New Hampshire with plenty to be proud of, but also with a clear message that the No. 9 team needs to dig a little deeper if they want to match the very best. Hendrick Motorsports showed encouraging speed throughout the weekend, with both Elliott and William Byron running inside the top 10. But for Elliott, who has been steadily fighting to secure his playoff standing, the job isn’t done yet.

After starting deep in the field, Elliott worked his way forward methodically, breaking into the top 20 by the end of Stage 1. By Stage 2, he was surging, finishing seventh, and ultimately held his ground through the final laps to claim a fifth-place result, his third top-five in 12 career starts at Loudon.

“That was concerning. Just hate I put us in those holes,” Elliott admitted post-race. “It’s a great day for sure, to battle back up through there and claw our way back up into the mix, but you hate to have to do that and hate to have to put yourself in those positions.”

Elliott compared the performance to his run at Gateway earlier in the playoffs, where he finished third behind Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. This consistency is keeping him in the hunt, but he knows they have to be better if they want to beat winners like Ryan Blaney and the Penske camp.

He credited his pit crew for rebounding after a mid-race stall and praised crew chief Alan Gustafson for bold calls, including staying out during green-flag stops. Notably, this move gave him the track position he needed to contend. Still, Elliott was realistic: “Certainly didn’t have anything for Ryan and those guys… we got to step up a little bit to catch them, but certainly competitive to the rest.”

With Kansas and the Roval looming, Elliott knows the margin for error is razor-thin. The No. 9 team can’t afford to spend entire stages digging out of holes if they want to keep their championship hopes alive. The speed is there, the execution is improving. Now, it’s about starting up front and staying there when it matters most.